Letters shed new light on Kray twins scandal

Newly-discovered letters revealing the true nature of the relationship between
Ronnie Kray, the crime boss, and Lord Boothby, the Conservative peer, are
being offered for sale.

Reggie Kray and Ronnie Kray:Photo: GETTY

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent

8:30AM BST 26 Jul 2009

The previously-unseen notes appear to show that Boothby, a former MP and aide to Winston Churchill, wrongly received a £40,000 libel payout from a newspaper that had linked him with the Krays.

Allegations surrounding "the peer and the gangster" emerged in 1964 at a time when Westminster was still reeling from the Profumo Affair.

When the Sunday Mirror reported in July 1964 that Scotland Yard was investigating a homosexual relationship between an unnamed peer and a major figure in the criminal underworld, suspicion fell on Boothby and on Kray, who, together with his twin brother Reggie, was building a reputation for running protection rackets and dishing out violence to those who stood in his way.

However, Boothby chose to go public with a letter to The Times in which he denied being homosexual and stated that he had only ever met Kray three times, always to discuss business matters and always in the company of other people.

Facing the threat of a libel defeat, the Sunday Mirror issued an apology to the peer and paid out £40,000, equivalent to £500,000 today. The newspaper's editor, Reg Payne, lost his job over the affair.

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Yet a newly-uncovered letter sent by Boothby to Kray shows that the two men were friends, and were making social arrangements, more than a year before the peer won his payout.

On notepaper carrying his address in Eaton Square, Belgravia, Boothby wrote to Kray on June 6, 1963: "Thank you for your postcard. I very nearly went to Jersey myself, as I have never been there, and hear from so many people that it is quite delightful.

"If you are free tomorrow evening between six and seven, do come round for a drink and a chat."

The brief note is signed: "Ever sincerely, Boothby."

The letters, which are being put up for sale by an anonymous vendor, shed new light on one of the murkiest episodes in the career of the Kray twins.

Since described as the "pervert peer" in reference to his sexual proclivities, Boothby was shouted down in the Lords in February 1965 for demanding that the Krays should be released on bail after their arrest and charge for running the protection racket.

Another letter from Boothby to Kray, dated April 1965 on House of Lords notepaper, says: "I have had a great many letters congratulating me on the stand I took in the House of Lords on your behalf; and that some of their Lordships are now a bit ashamed of the treatment they gave me."

It adds: "I think that they will now leave you alone. And you never can say that I haven't done my best."

Each letter is expected to reach an estimated £1,000 to £1,500 when sold alongside other Kray memorabilia at Mullock's auctioneers in Ludlow, Shropshire, on August 13.

Richard Westwood-Brookes, the auctioneer, said: "These original letters have never been seen in public before and provide sensational new evidence on the relationship between Lord Boothby and Ron Kray.

"They have implications for the high-profile case Boothby won against the Mirror in the 1960s.

"It is clear that Boothby is inviting Kray round, and this proves the peer lied in his letter to The Times defending himself. It also proves the men were friends long before Boothby acknowledged."

Another piece of Kray memorabilia sold by Mullock's earlier this year, two original police mugshots of the twins aged about 18, was estimated at £100 but reached £7,500.

Lord Boothby died in 1986. Ronnie Kray, who suffered from schizophrenia, was jailed for life for two murders in 1969 along with Reggie; he died in Broadmoor Hospital in 1995.